The Power of Guilt
by rosie4299
Summary: Written for the Seasonal Passions Fall Fic Exchange. When Rory accidentally forgets her mother's birthday, Lorelai goes to great pains to make sure that it never happens again...


**Author's Pre Work Christmas Party Ramblings-** Hello All! I wrote this for the Seasonal Passions Fall Fic Exchange a while ago, and the writer's got revealed earlier today, so I'm posting this here now! I'm really happy with how this fic came out, and I hope that you all enjoy it too!

The Winter Fic Exchange is starting right about now, and I'm once again helping Sara, my wonderful beta. So, if you are a Trory writer, please, go and sign up for that! It's loads of fun, and the more writers the better! I have a link to the site on my page, so please, check it out!

Thank you to my awesome beta, Sara, (Shouhei) for her fabulous beta skills that always make my stories reach above and beyondmy expectations. And to Amy, (abc79de) who requested this fic. She gave me such great guidelines, this fic was so much fun to write!

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**INCLUDE:**

1. Jumping into big piles of leaves.

2. Getting completely lost on a road trip.

3. Somebody forgetting a birthday. It doesn't have to be Rory or Tristan's b-day.

**DON'T INCLUDE:**

1. Violence.

2. Over-use of the Bible-Boy/Mary nicknames. Once or twice is okay. Never seeing the words Rory and Tristan are not okay.

3. Ex's trying to mess with whatever relationship you choose for them to have. IE, no Jess or Dean trying to break them up, or exes of Tristan's trying to win him back or messing with Rory.

FIC RATING: PG-13/R. NC-17 okay, but completely up to author's comfort level and ideas.

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**The Power of Guilt**

"Free at last, free at last! Thank God almighty, free at last!" Tristan exclaimed, collapsing onto their bed.

"Funny." Rory grumbled, pulling a pair of pajamas from a drawer. It was four in the morning, and they were just getting in from a movie marathon in Stars Hollow. The theme had been eighties night, and they had spent close to fourteen hours watching the best of the best, starting with 'Say Anything,' through 'Adventures in Babysitting,' and finally, capping off the evening, or rather, early morning, with 'Sixteen Candles.'

"Hey, I'm not the one who forgot my mother's birthday." Tristan pointed out, ridding of himself of his tee shirt and jeans before sliding under the covers.

"Yeah, yeah." Rory muttered. For the first time in twenty one years, she had forgotten her mother's birthday. And the guilt trip that had followed her profuse apologies had been a big one. You would think that a pregnant woman would be losing her edge, but not Lorelai. She had really let Rory have it.

"I can't believe that you told her that you would do anything to make it up to her." Tristan commented, pulling her close as she climbed back into their bed. "You know that she's going to take full advantage of you."

"Correction, honey." Rory grinned, snuggling deeper into his embrace. "She's going to take full advantage of _US_."

"How do you figure?"

"I told her that _WE_ would do anything to make it up to her. As in you and me."

"This is going to be hell, isn't it?" Tristan groaned, too tired to protest about his newfound indentured servitude to his future Mother in law.

"You have no idea." Rory mumbled before drifting off, exhausted from the day's events. Lorelai was a handful, everyone knew that. Now that she was four months pregnant with Rory's first sibling, she was even more obstinate than before. That didn't bode well for Rory and Tristan.

**--&--**

A soft, tickling sensation roused Tristan from his sleep late the next morning. He cautiously opened one eye, but quickly shut it as the bright morning light streamed in through the windows.

The feathery feeling continued, and he reluctantly opened his eyes once again. Rory's long brown hair was blowing lightly against his neck. Tristan couldn't contain the smirk that slowly spread across his face. Even after two years, he couldn't believe that she was his.

They had met yet again during their sophomore year, having been lurking around the same Yale campus for a whole year, both oblivious to the other's presence. It was love at second sight from the moment that Rory had spilled her coffee on him that day in the cafeteria, where they had bumped into each other.

They had been together ever since, and much to Rory's chagrin, Tristan took great pleasure in telling anyone who would listen that she had literally fallen head over heels for him.

Then Rory would claim that it was his own fault, that anyone who was dumb enough to stand within a ten foot radius of a Gilmore before she has imbibed more than two cups of coffee was asking to get knocked on his ass.

He chuckled to himself softly, and pulled Rory closer. He was lucky, no one had to tell him that. How many people get a second chance with the one you were stupid enough to let get away?

"Morning."

He snapped out of his reverie at the sound of her voice, still thick with sleep. Even though she had just woken up, his breath caught in his throat when he looked into her deep blue eyes. Silently, Tristan thanked whatever higher power that was responsible for her being nestled in his arms at that moment.

"Morning." He took the opportunity to pull her even closer, kissing her thoroughly. Tristan's hands seemed to have minds of their own, one winding its way into her dark locks, while the other slid down her side, slipping below the thin material of her tank top.

Breaking away from him, Rory smiled. "Well, that's a hell of a way to start the day."

"I'm just getting started." Tristan growled, attacking her neck with a trail of open mouth kisses. His hands once again resumed their activities under her shirt. "Just you wait."

The phone rang.

"Tristan," Rory breathed, pushing him away slightly. "The phone."

"Ignore it."

"I can't." She gasped as his teeth closed around her nipple, still encased in the soft cotton of her top.

"The machine will get it. I'm sure that whoever it is can wait an hour." Tristan moved back up her body, placing a kiss on her lips. He felt her relax, and he pulled her tank over her head, raining steamy kisses over her chest.

"Rory, it's your favorite mother in the whole wide world!"

Tristan sprang from the bed at the sound of Lorelai's voice. That woman had the worst timing in the whole world.

"Pick up! I know that you're there."

Rory hastily pulled her shirt over her head, reluctantly answering the phone. "Hi Mom."

"Hello Birthday Forgetter!"

"Mom, I swear, I didn't mean to forget."

"I know, but you still have to pay."

"But I'm really sorry."

"So?"

"Doesn't that mean anything?"

"Yes. But like I said, you still have to pay."

"What do you need?" Rory sighed. This was going to be painful.

"A lot of things. First on the list is my dry cleaning."

"Okay, I can pick it up later."

"Now."

"Why?"

"Because."

"Because why?"

"Because you love me, and I'm extremely good at making people feel guilty, Bad Daughter."

"Evil." Rory grumbled, climbing out of bed. The hardwood floors were so cold against her feet. She would have to remember to turn up the thermostat later, when she got back from her Mother's.

"Love you too, babe!" Lorelai replied cheekily before hanging up.

Rory yanked a pair of jeans out of a drawer and pulled them on. She was looking for a sweater when Tristan reappeared, bearing coffee. "And so it begins, huh?" He sighed, noting that she was getting dressed. Not that anything was going to happen now, anyway. Hearing someone's mother's voice wasn't exactly what Tristan would call a turn on.

"So it begins." Rory agreed, a grim expression on her face.

**--&--**

"Explain it to me again."

Rory sighed, looked up from the map in her lap and turned in her seat to face him. They had been in the car for hours, off to do more of Lorelai's bidding. "I told you, Mom called and she said that she needs maple syrup." She answered simply, as if it were obvious.

"And they don't have maple syrup anywhere in the state of Connecticut?" Tristan asked, turning left. This was getting ridiculous. He had spent the last five days running errands for Lorelai, keeping her company, cooking, cleaning, and whatever other insane demands she decided to make of them.

She wasn't making the tasks easy. Lorelai was always underfoot, trying to undermine them. She tracked mud all through the house when Rory had just spent thee hours cleaning. She would attempt to 'help' them cook, adding unnecessary spices that she thought had funny names. Lorelai had even jumped in the huge pile of leaves that Tristan had raked in the backyard, sending them scattering all over the lawn once again.

"She says that this is the best maple syrup in the North East." Rory bit her bottom lip. She knew that Tristan was getting fed up with her mother, and she felt bad for dragging him into 'Guiltfest 2006,' but at the same time, it was nice that she didn't have to handle Lorelai all by herself.

"Rory, it's just, don't you think that enough is enough? I mean, it's our final fall break of college, and we're spending it with your mother." There were a lot of things that Tristan would rather be doing right now, things that didn't include a road trip to a tiny farm in Vermont.

For one, he was in desperate need of some alone time with Rory. They hadn't spent much quality time together lately, with midterms last week, and studying for said midterms the week before. Plus, Rory had a major article due for the paper, and Tristan was busy writing a twenty page paper for his Psychology 451 class, which amounted to fifteen percent of his final grade.

"I know, and I'm sorry, but I just feel so bad about all of this." Rory said softly, her voice wavering a bit. "I mean, my mom is my best friend, and I forgot her birthday. Did you see the look in her eyes on Sunday? I wanted to crawl under a rock and stay there for a million years."

"I get it, Ror, I really do." Tristan soothed, not wanting her to cry again, as she had last night, when they had started to argue about this. He hated to see her cry. "I just miss you. Plus, Lorelai has the worst timing, like, ever."

"That she does." Rory smiled slightly, remembering how her mother had interrupted them several times in the last few days. It seemed like every time that she and Tristan would attempt to get all hot and bothered, that pesky phone would ring. It was getting frustrating, and if it wasn't for the liberal servings of guilt that Lorelai was dishing out to Rory every chance she got, Rory would have exploded.

"Maybe we could make a little pit stop somewhere." Tristan suggested, wiggling his eyebrows and tracing small circles into the back of her hand. Rory giggled, turned her head away and gasped.

"Oh my God!" She exclaimed, twisting around to look behind them. _This is not happening,_ she thought to herself.

"What, I haven't even done anything yet." Tristan joked, trying to see what she was staring at without killing them in the process.

"Oh, my, God." Rory said again, turning her attention back to the map resting on her legs. "I can't believe this." She moaned, turning the map slightly to the right.

"What?" Tristan asked, not understanding what was going on. "What's wrong?"

"I might have kind of… sort of… maybe had the map turned slightly in the wrong direction." Rory mumbled.

"What!" Tristan exclaimed, looking around for something to tell him where they were. The sign that she had been reading was too far away now. "Where are we?"

"Well, according to the sign back there, Welcome to New York."

**--&--**

"You ended up in upstate New York?!?" Lorelai burst into laughter at the absurdity of the situation. "How do you go from a short trip to Vermont to a long excursion to New York?"

"Glad that you think it's so funny, Mom." Rory grumbled, crossing her arms.

"Aw, Babe, it's not funny, it's frikin' hilarious!" Lorelai choked out, before succumbing to another fit of violent giggles. This child was going to have Shaken Baby Syndrome before it was even born.

"Yeah well, Tristan didn't think so." Rory flopped back against the couch. "He's mad."

"At you? But Honey, it's his fault. He did give you the map, after all."

"Yeah, but still. We haven't had all that much time together lately, with school and stuff, and now with you and all the stuff that you've been having us do… I don't know. It's just been hard. We haven't exactly spoken since we got back."

That was when Lorelai, who had been thoroughly enjoying having two people at her beck and call for the past few days, started to feel guilty herself. She had forgiven Rory about an hour after she had finally shown up. And she wasn't that late, considering she had come by at two o'clock. So in reality, the only thing that she missed was a morning of begging Luke for a cup of coffee as a birthday present.

"Honey, maybe I took this whole guilt thing a little too far." Lorelai started slowly. "I never meant for my fun to cause any problems between you and Tristan."

"I know that Mom." Rory sighed, looking down at her hands.

"And maybe I could let you off the hook." She continued, feeling worse as she saw the sadness on Rory's face. _Stupid guilt._ "As long as you swear on your love for coffee that you will never forget my birthday again."

Rory smiled slightly. "I think I can manage that."

"Good. I should go to the inn. We're supposed to be getting a tour group in this weekend, and I don't want to have Michel scare them away." Lorelai announced, holding out her hands. "Now, help me up, and then call Tristan, and tell him that your fabulous and beautiful mother has lifted the punishment, and that you two are free once again."

"I will Mom." Rory promised, blushing as she helped Lorelai hoist herself to her feet.

A minute later, after making sure that the coast was clear, Rory picked up the phone.

"Hey."

"Hey." Tristan greeted her on the other end.

"She fell for it."

"Really?"

"Like a ton of bricks." Rory smiled, looking out the window, searching for him. "Where are you?"

"Right behind you." He whispered in her ear, slipping his arms around her waist. "So, she really bought it?"

"Of course. I was very convincing." Rory smirked, leaning back against him, reveling in the feeling of his body pressed against her own.

Somewhere on the long drive back from New York, both Tristan and Rory had decided that enough was enough. Lorelai was really getting out of hand. They needed to put a stop to it.

The best way that the pair could think of was to give Lorelai a taste of her own medicine. In other words, guilt for the Guilter. And obviously, it had worked like a charm, and Lorelai would no longer be interrupting them.

"I'm sure you were." Tristan murmured against her skin, trailing kisses from her shoulder, up the graceful column of her throat, to the soft flesh behind her ear. "You were very convincing last night when we were practicing."

Rory turned around to face him, and brushed his lips with hers. "Yeah, you were right. It was pretty helpful to think of what I would say before I got here."

"I can think of a few things that I would rather practice right now." Tristan informed her, trailing a finger lightly down her side, leaving a trail of fire in its wake.

"Oh really?" Rory raised an eyebrow, looking into his eyes. "And what would that be?"

"I think that it would be a lot more fun to show you." Tristan said, before kissing her thoroughly, with all of the pent up passion that had been building up inside of him for weeks working its way to the surface as the kiss grew hotter and more frantic.

The last time they had sex was nearly three weeks ago, and that was without a doubt the longest that they had gone without sex since they had first started dating. How they had both lasted this long was beyond them both.

Tristan broke the kiss only for a moment, just long enough to rid Rory of her tee shirt, which he let fall to the floor as he pulled her to him once more. Once again, his lips fused to hers, and his hands worked at releasing the catch of her bra.

His kisses, along with his touch, were quickly working Rory into a haze. She was barely able to keep her train of thought, but she did register that Tristan was pushing her down and onto the couch. Her mother and Luke had recently bought a new one, after the old one had mysteriously collapsed after Lorelai and Rory had a John Travolta movie marathon. The leather was cool against Rory's bare skin as Tristan lowered her onto it with care.

She needed him, more than anything, maybe even coffee. The feel of him above her was driving her insane. It had been far too long since they had been together last. And if Rory had her way, it would never be that long again.

Rory had been attempting to unbutton Tristan's shirt, but was getting frustrated as her fingers fumbled with the fabric. Finally, she gave up, and ripped at the soft cloth, sending a few buttons flying.

She ran her fingers down his now bare chest, his muscles coming to life as her fingers ran over them, finding their way to his jeans, which she made quick work of unsnapping and unzipping.

Tristan's mind was going haywire as she pushed his boxers out of the way. He nearly lost it when she finally took hold of him, her hand brushing against him in firm, confident strokes. Every time she touched him, he could feel his body heat rising, and he became more and more aware of the hold that she had on him. No matter how many girls he had been with, no one had ever been able to affect him the way that Rory did.

He couldn't take it anymore. If he didn't stop her soon, all would be over before it really began. Tristan pulled her hand away from him, receiving a groan and a slight pout. He quickly pulled her pouty bottom lip into his mouth, his hands once again exploring her body.

Rory gasped as Tristan squeezed her ass, and she arched into him at the unexpected move. He took the opportunity to pull her hips up to meet his in a grind. Once. Twice. The third time, Rory moaned, threading her fingers into his unruly hair as she deepened their kiss.

He ground down into her once again, and he felt her start to squirm. Tristan tugged at the skirt that she was wearing, pushing it down her legs. He groaned out loud when he realized that she had been going commando the entire time.

Tristan didn't waste any time. His strong, steady fingers stroked the soft, inviting flesh of her core, bringing her closer and closer to the brink every time one of his digits brushed over her clit.

Rory couldn't take much more of this. Her body was screaming for him, need coursing through her veins. But Tristan's nimble fingers kept at her, teasing her relentlessly. It was only when he felt her start to clamp down on his fingers that he removed them, pushing himself inside of her.

If Tristan's lips hadn't been pressed firmly against her own, Rory was sure that her cry of both relief and pleasure would have brought the neighborhood to the door. His short, hard thrusts brought her closer to the edge.

She could barely breathe, but she didn't really care. All that mattered was the fact that Tristan had her teetering on the edge of oblivion. Tristan could feel as her muscles begin to tense up, signaling that she was close, and drove into her at a more frantic pace, angling her hips slightly to speed up the process.

With a final thrust, Rory came, Tristan following right after her. Her body relaxed, the feeling of ecstasy running through her spent body. She felt Tristan nuzzle her neck, pressing soft kisses into her sweaty skin.

Tristan sat up, reluctantly pulling himself out of her. "Well, Ror, I'd say that was a job well done, wouldn't you?"

"Are you talking about getting my mother off our backs or the sex we just had on her couch?" Rory asked, rehooking her bra.

"Well, I was talking about fixing that problem with Lorelai, but that little encounter was pretty good too." Tristan joked as he handed the corduroy skirt to her.

"Pretty good?" Rory raised an eyebrow. "I thought it was better than pretty good, but if you only think it mediocre, then I guess that we're just going to have to go home and see if we can do something to fix that dilemma too."

"I like the way you think." Tristan smirked, wrapping his arms around her slim waist.

"Well, I should hope so, considering that you are going to be stuck with me for the rest of your life." Rory rolled her eyes as she grabbed her purse off of the side table in the front hall.

"Just promise me one thing, Rory." Tristan said, the serious tone in his voice making her turn around to face him. "It could affect the rest of our lives, and I don't think that I could ever go through it again."

"What?" Rory asked, getting worried. What could possibly have made him so stoic all of a sudden?

"Never, ever, _EVER_, forget your mother's birthday again."


End file.
